
Their
point was that the very reason for the chimp study was to demonstrate they had
“cognitive powers” similar to humans, being able to make a preferential choice
as to what foods tasted better after cooking.
Therefore they should be granted the dignity and deference given humans
in similar studies.
Stossel
brought O’Reilly a current list of politically correct terminology that went
way beyond doing away with labels for Stewardesses or Chairmen and included one of
my favorites: a dog-guardian. O’Reilly
opined that part of the problem inherent in that term was that guardians usually
got paid for their service while pet owners are in the opposite camp.

One of my
favorite jokes concerns a man, flying to a business meeting who hears a female
voice saying, “Well, as we break through the clouds, feel free to push your
seat back and relax.”
His
reaction: “That’s all we need, a woman pilot in the cockpit!”
To which
the flight attendant says, “You are correct sir, our Captain is female, as are
the First Officer, the Purser and all three Flight attendants. Oh, and we no longer call it a cockpit, it is
the Flight Operations Center.”
I’m unsure
of what that says about me, but JerrySeinfeld would say the pc-appropriate line has moved in too far. He told
O’Reilly and Stossel that when his wife mentioned to their 14 year-old daughter
that she might want to spend more time in the city, to meet boys, she said,
“That is so sexist!” Seinfeld believes
college campuses as well as his daughter have become unable to see the humor in stereotypical behavior.
There is
reason to agree with Seinfeld’s opinion.
A recent article in the WSJ
traced the history that has resulted in Federal Funding for Title IX, which was
designed to equal the opportunity playing field for women in college sports, to
be diverted to Universities being, Judge, jury, investigative authority and
court in cases of alleged sexual harassment.
A case in
point being the University of Virginia, which responded to now-debunked
allegations of fraternity house gang rape by closing the fraternity house,
expelling at least two students, and defending the school’s policing of on and
off-campus allegations of sexual misconduct.
All of this in response to seemingly innocuous “Dear Colleague” letters
from federal education officials, which changed to ground rules of Title IX,
creating a new standard that concluded women did not know what “sports” they
were interested in and needed to be educated that they could compete in activities
more classically defined at athletics.
Title IX
funding has now been diverted from support for women athletes to defense of the
university’s compliance with federal guidance and funds have been siphoned off
to, no-so-surprising trial lawyers. This
seems particularly ironic when we see US Woman’s Soccer prominent on a world
stage.
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